MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY PUBLIC MIND SURVEY RESULTS

The malpractice insurance crisis: blame the lawyers and bring in caps

Amid threatened strikes by doctors and finger pointing between lawyers and insurance companies, residents of Pennsylvania were asked their views on the medical malpractice insurance crisis.

Key Findings:

--Over one-third of residents (36%) believe that lawyers are primarily responsible for the malpractice insurance crisis in Pennsylvania.

--Almost a third (31%) believe that multiple parties are responsible for the crisis.

--Insurance companies were identified by only 13% of respondents as being responsible for the crisis and patients and doctors were least likely to be blamed

--A large majority of residents are very satisfied with the performance of medical doctors in their communities (72%).

--Slightly more than half of Pennsylvanians (53%) favor capping malpractice awards at $250,000 while more than a third opposes such a cap.

Detailed Findings:

--More senior (aged 65 and older) than younger residents (under 35) blame lawyers for the malpractice insurance crisis (42 vs. 24% respectively).

--Seniors (26%) were twice as likely as the youngest respondents (13%) to rate their local doctors as “excellent”.

--Although Republicans and Democrats rate the performance of local doctors similarly, Republicans are more apt to blame lawyers for the crisis (42 vs. 32%) and to favor a $250,000 cap (56 vs. 51%).

--White residents are almost twice as likely as blacks to blame lawyers (38 vs. 21%). Black residents are equally likely to blame doctors, lawyers, and insurance companies.

--Black residents are more likely than whites to oppose caps (45 vs. 34%). They are also more likely to rate their local doctors poorly.

--Male respondents are more likely than females to blame lawyers (41 vs. 32%).

--Respondents most in favor of capping malpractice awards are most likely to identify lawyers and patients as being primarily responsible for the crisis.

--Satisfaction with local doctors, whether or not to cap awards, and identifying responsible parties did not vary by region of the state.

--Only 4% of the respondents gave a “poor” rating to the performance of their local doctors. Interestingly, only 4.7% of Pennsylvania’s doctors are responsible for 51% of all malpractice award payments (The Public Citizen).

The PUBLIC MIND is a scientific telephone survey of Pennsylvania adults. It is co-directed by Drs. Timothy Madigan (Sociology) and Richard Feil (Psychology). The above results were based on some 2200 respondents who were contacted Feb. 9-27. The margin of error on the overall survey is +/- 2.1%. For more information write: tmadigan@mnsfld.edu